Some food for thought.

"The way we live today, diligence is never rewarded. The prize goes not to the most qualifed but to the one who presents himself in the slickest possible manner and who makes the most minimal demand on the limited attention span of his audience. The principle is as true in executive suites as it is in movie theaters. The trick seems to be: tell them what they want to know, especially about themselves, and dress appropriately when doing so."

"Thinking demands effort. Principle presupposes thinking. Conscience presupposes principle. Restraint presupposes conscience. Ordinary civility presupposes restraint. Recognition of a common good presupposes at least a minimal level of civility. Without belief in the common good, the link between actions and all but their immediate personal consequences is severed. Devalue effort and it all collapses."

"The underdog wins through the exertion of effort, which makes him by current standards, not a winner but a sucker. The winner is someone who never has to try. Once you grasp that, the world makes a horrifying kind of sense."